1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system and a process for producing folded boxes which includes printing sheets of materials with the configuration of boxes, means for die cutting the box blanks from the printed sheets, folding and gluing the box blanks into folded boxes and packing the folded boxes with a means for transferring the box blanks from a die cutting means to the folding and gluing apparatus.
2. Prior Art
Systems for producing folded boxes, which are usually found in board converting factories, generally consist of printing press for processing a sheet of material or board, which sheet is either a continuous sheet stored on reels or individual sheets. The printing press, which prints the configuration of the boxes on the sheets, can either be coupled directly with a die cutting platen or can be included in an integral unit which includes a die cutting station. Ultimately, the box blanks, which are produced by the die cutter, are delivered in piles from the die cutting station and are transported to a folding and gluing machine which forms a folded and glued box, which is subsequently handled in a packing station, which is also referred to as an automatic delivery station.
A problem inherent with such a system of forming folded boxes is the fact that it requires a large amount of handling by persons for transferring the piles of box blanks produced by the printer-cutter to the folding and gluing machine. For example, such a system will require a staff for removing the box piles from the outlet of the printer cutter as well as a staff for feeding box blanks to the folding and gluing machine.